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50 Cent
Curtis James Jackson III (born 6 July 1975), better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper, entrepreneur, investor, and actor from New York City, New York. Born and raised in the South Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, Jackson began selling drugs at age twelve during the 1980s crack epidemic. Although he left drug dealing to pursue a musical career in the late 1990s, he was involved in a near-fatal shooting in 2000. After Jackson released the mixtape Guess Who's Back? in 2002, he was discovered by Eminem and signed to Shady Records, Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. With the aid of Eminem and Aftermath founder Dr. Dre, Jackson became one of the world's best selling rappers and rose to prominence after the release of his 2003 album Get Rich or Die Tryin'. That same year he founded G-Unit Records, signing G-Unit associates Young Buck, Lloyd Banks, and Tony Yayo. Jackson had similar commercial and critical success with his second album The Massacre in 2005. He released his fifth and latest album, Animal Ambition, in 2014, and is currently working on his sixth album, Street King Immortal. He executive produces and stars in the television series Power, which airs on Starz. During his music career, Jackson has sold over thirty million albums worldwide and has won several awards, including a Grammy Award, thirteen Billboard Music Awards, six World Music Awards, three American Music Awards, and four BET Awards. He has also pursued an acting career, appearing in the semi-autobiographical film Get Rich or Die Tryin' in 2005, the Iraq War film Home of the Brave in 2006, and Righteous Kill in 2008. 50 Cent was ranked as the sixth-best artist of the 2000s by Billboard magazine. The magazine also ranked him as the fourth top male artist and as the third best rapper behind Eminem and Nelly. Early life Jackson was born in the borough of Queens, New York City, and raised in its South Jamaica neighborhood by his mother, Sabrina. A drug dealer, Sabrina raised Jackson until she died in a mysterious fire when Jackson was 8. After his mother's death, Jackson was raised by his grandmother. He began boxing at about age 11, and when he was 14 a neighbor opened a boxing gym for local youth. "When I wasn't killing time in school, I was sparring in the gym or selling crack on the strip," Jackson recalled. "I was competitive in the ring and hip-hop is competitive too ... I think rappers condition themselves like boxers, so they all kind of feel like they're the champ." At age 12, Jackson began dealing narcotics when his grandparents thought he was in after-school programs and brought guns and drug money to the school. In the tenth grade, he was caught by metal detectors at Andrew Jackson High School: "I was embarrassed that I got arrested like that ... After I got arrested I stopped hiding it. I was telling my grandmother openly, 'I sell drugs.'" On 29 June 1994, Jackson was arrested for selling four vials of cocaine to an undercover police officer. He was arrested again three weeks later when police searched his home and found heroin, ten ounces of crack cocaine and a starting pistol. Although Jackson was sentenced to three to nine years in prison, he served six months in a boot camp and earned his GED. He has said that he did not use cocaine himself. Jackson adopted the nickname "50 Cent" as a metaphor for change. The name was inspired by Kelvin Martin, a 1980s Brooklyn robber known as "50 Cent"; Jackson chose it "because it says everything I want it to say. I'm the same kind of person 50 Cent was. I provide for myself by any means." Career 1996-1999: Beginnings Jackson began rapping in a friend's basement, where he used turntables to record over instrumentals. In 1996, a friend introduced him to Jam Master Jay of Run-D.M.C., who was head of Jam Master Jay Records. Jay taught him how to count bars, write choruses, structure songs and make records. Jackson's first appearance was on "React" with Onyx, for their 1998 album Shut 'Em Down. He credited Jay for improving his ability to write hooks, and Jay produced Jackson's first (unreleased) album. In 1999, after Jackson left Jam Master Jay, the platinum-selling producers Trackmasters signed him to Columbia Records. They sent him to an upstate New York studio, where he recorded thirty-six songs in two weeks; eighteen were included on his 2000 album, Power of the Dollar. Jackson's popularity began to grow after the successful but controversial underground single "How to Rob", which he wrote in a half-hour car ride to a studio. The track comically describes how he would rob famous artists. Jackson explained the song's rationale: "There are a hundred artists on that label, you gotta separate yourself from that group and make yourself relevant". Rappers Jay-Z, Kurupt, Sticky Fingaz, Big Pun, DMX, Wyclef Jean and the Wu-Tang Clan responded to the track, and Nas invited Jackson to join him on his Nastradamus tour. Although "How to Rob" was intended to be released with "Thug Love", featuring Destiny's Child, two days before he was scheduled to film the "Thug Love" music video Jackson was shot and hospitalized. 2000-2001: Shooting On 24 May 2000, Jackson was shot by a gunman outside his grandmother's former home in South Jamaica. After getting into a friend's car, he was asked to return to the house to get some jewelry. After Jackson returned to the back seat of the car, another car pulled up nearby; an assailant walked up and fired nine shots at close range with a 9mm handgun. Jackson was shot in the hand, arm, hip, both legs, chest and left cheek. His facial wound resulted in a swollen tongue, the loss of a wisdom tooth and a slightly slurred voice; his friend was wounded in the hand. They were driven to a hospital, where Jackson spent thirteen days. The alleged attacker, Darryl Baum, a close friend and former bodyguard of Mike Tyson, was killed three weeks later. Jackson recalled the shooting: "It happens so fast that you don't even get a chance to shoot back ... I was scared the whole time ... I was looking in the rear-view mirror like, 'Oh shit, somebody shot me in the face! It burns, burns, burns.'" In his autobiography, From Pieces to Weight: Once Upon a Time in Southside Queens, he wrote: "After I got shot nine times at close range and didn't die, I started to think that I must have a purpose in life ... How much more damage could that shell have done? Give me an inch in this direction or that one, and I'm gone". After using a walker for six weeks, Jackson was fully recovered after five months. When he left the hospital, he stayed in the Poconos with his girlfriend and son, and his workout regime helped him develop a muscular physique. In the hospital, Jackson signed a publishing deal with Columbia Records before he was dropped from the label and blacklisted by the recording industry because of his song, "Ghetto Qu'ran". Unable to work in a United States studio, he went to Canada. With business partner Sha Money XL, Jackson recorded over thirty songs for mixtapes to build a reputation. In a HitQuarters interview, Marc Labelle of Shady Records A&R said that Jackson used the mixtape circuit to his advantage: "He took all the hottest beats from every artist and flipped them with better hooks. They then got into all the markets on the mixtapes and all the mixtape DJs were messing with them." Jackson's popularity increased, and in 2002 he released the mixtape Guess Who's Back?. He then released 50 Cent Is the Future with G-Unit, a mixtape revisiting material by Jay-Z and Raphael Saadiq. 2002-2006: Rise to fame In 2002, Eminem heard Jackson's Guess Who's Back? CD received from Jackson's attorney, who was working with Eminem's manager Paul Rosenberg. Impressed, Eminem invited Jackson to fly to Los Angeles and introduced him to Dr. Dre. After signing a $1 million record deal, Jackson released the mixtape No Mercy, No Fear. It featured one new track, "Wanksta", which also appeared on the ''8 Mile'' soundtrack. Jackson was also signed by Chris Lighty's Violator Management and Sha Money XL's Money Management Group. Jackson released his debut album, Get Rich or Die Tryin', in February 2003. It was described by Allmusic as "probably the most hyped debut album by a rap artist in about a decade. Rolling Stone noted its "dark synth grooves, buzzy keyboards, and a persistently funky bounce", with Jackson complementing the production in "an unflappable laid-back flow". It debuted at #1 on the US Billboard 200, selling 872,000 copies in its first four days. The lead single, "In da Club", set a Billboard record as the most listened-song in radio history within a week. Interscope Records gave Jackson his own label, G-Unit Records, in 2003. He signed Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo, and Young Buck as members of the group G-Unit, and The Game was later signed in a joint venture with Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment. In March 2005, Jackson's second studio album, The Massacre, sold 1.14 million copies in its first four days (the highest in an abbreviated sales cycle) and was #1 on the Billboard 200 for six weeks. He was the first solo artist with three singles in the Billboard top five in the same week with "Candy Shop", "Disco Inferno" and "How We Do". According to Rolling Stone, "50's secret weapon is his singing voice - the deceptively amateur-sounding tenor croon that he deploys on almost every chorus". After The Game's departure, Jackson signed singer Olivia and duo Mobb Deep to G-Unit Records, with Spider Loc, M.O.P., 40 Glocc, and Young Hot Rod later joining the label, who would all eventually depart the label. 2007-2009: Curtis and Before I Self Destruct In September 2007, Jackson released his third studio album, Curtis, which was inspired by his life before Get Rich or Die Tryin'. It debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 (behind Kanye West's Graduation, released on the same day), selling 691,000 copies in its first week. On the 10 September 2008 episode of Total Request Live, Jackson announced that his fourth album would be "done and released in November". He released "Ok, You're Right", produced by Dr. Dre, on 19 May 2009. Before I Self Destruct was released on 9 November 2009. 2010-2011: New business ventures In a Contactmusic.com interview, Jackson said he was working on a Eurodance album, Black Magic, inspired by European nightclubs: "First they played hip hop which suddenly changed to uptempo songs, known as Eurodance". He later said he had changed his next album to The Return of the Heartless Monster after writing different material when he returned home from The Invitation Tour in 2010, shelving Black Magic. On 3 September, Jackson supported Eminem on his and Jay-Z's The Home & Home Tour, performing "Crack a Bottle" with Eminem and Dr. Dre amid rumors of tension between Jackson and Dre. Jackson "recorded 20 songs to a whole different album concept" before putting them aside, wanting his new album to have the "aggression" of Get Rich or Die Tryin'. Jackson tweeted that the album was "80 percent done" and fans could expect it in the summer of 2011. It was ultimately delayed a year due to disagreements with Interscope Records, with Jackson saying that he would release it in November 2011 with a different title than Black Magic. Eminem made a guest appearance, and Jackson said he was working with new producers such as Boi-1da and Alex da Kid. Cardiak confirmed that he produced a song for the upcoming album. Jackson released a song, "Outlaw", from his fifth album on the Internet on 16 June 2011. The single, produced by Cardiak, was released on iTunes on 19 July, although Jackson tweeted that it was not the album's first single. The rapper planned to write a semi-autobiographical young-adult novel about bullying, different from his previous books which focused on his life and the rules of power. According to the book's publisher, the first-person novel, about a 13-year-old schoolyard bully "who finds redemption as he faces what he's done" was scheduled for publication in January 2012. The novel, Playground, was released early in November 2011. In a series of tweets, Jackson told that the delay of his fifth album was due to disagreements with Interscope Records, later suggesting that it would be released in November 2011 with his headphone line, SMS by 50. He speculated to MTV News about not renewing his five-album contract with Interscope: "I don't know ... It will all be clear in the negotiations following me turning this actual album in. And, of course, the performance and how they actually treat the work will determine whether you still want to stay in position or not." On 20 June 2011, Jackson announced the release of Before I Self Destruct II after his fifth album. Although he planned to shoot a music video for the fifth album's lead single, "I'm on It", on 26 June, the video was never filmed. Jackson told Shade45, "I did four songs in Detroit with Eminem. I did two with Just Blaze, a Boi-1da joint, and I did something with Alex da Kid. We made two that are definite singles and the other two are the kinds of records that we been making, more aimed at my core audience, more aggressive, more of a different kind of energy to it." He released "Street King Energy Track #7" in September 2011 to promote Street King, his charity-based energy drink. An announcement that Jackson was shooting a music video for "Girls Go Wild", the fifth-album lead single featuring Jeremih, was made on 28 September 2011. 2012-present: Departure from Interscope Jackson's fifth album, Street King Immortal, was initially scheduled for a summer 2012 release and postponed until 13 November. Disagreements with Interscope Records about its release and promotion led to its temporary cancellation. Its first promo single, "New Day" featuring Dr. Dre and Alicia Keys, was released on 27 July. The song was produced by Dre, and written by 50 Cent, Keys, Dre and Royce da 5'9". A solo version by Keys was leaked by her husband, Swizz Beatz. "My Life" featuring Eminem and Adam Levine of Maroon 5, the album's second promo single, was released on 26 November 2012. In January 2014, Jackson said that he planned to release Animal Ambition in the first quarter of the year, followed by Street King Immortal. On 20 February, he left Shady Records, Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope, signing with Caroline Records and Capitol Records. According to Jackson, although he owed Interscope another album, he was released from his contract because of his friendship with Eminem and Dr. Dre: "I'm a special case and situation. It's also because of the leverage of having strong relationships with Eminem and Dr. Dre. They don't want me to be uncomfortable. They value our friendship to the point that they would never want jeopardize it over that little bit of money." That day, he announced that Animal Ambition would be released on 3 June and released its first track. The song, "Funeral", was released with a video on Forbes.com. Produced by Jake One, it is a continuation of "50 Bars" from a previous album; two more tracks were scheduled for release on 18 March. At South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, Jackson performed "Hold On" from the new album. That song and "Don't Worry 'Bout It" was released with accompanying videos on 18 March. According to Jackson, prosperity would be a theme of the album: "This project, I had to search for a concept, a really good concept, in my perspective, and that was prosperity. I outlined all the things that would be a part of prosperity, positive and negative [for Animal Ambition]. On 14 May 2015, Jackson revealed in an interview that the first single from Street King Immortal would be previewed Memorial Day weekend and would likely be released in June. Jackson released "Get Low" on 20 May 2015 as the intended first single from Street King Immortal. The song, produced by Remo the Hitmaker, features vocals by 2 Chainz, T.I. and Jeremih. Jackson announced bankruptcy on 13 July 2015. On 31 March 2017, Interscope released 50 Cent's final album for the label, a greatest hits album titled Best Of. Artistry Jackson cites KRS-One, Big Daddy Kane, Juice Crew, and EPMD as his rapping influences. He cites LL Cool J as an inspiration behind his writing of "21 Questions". Jackson also stated that he drew influences from Nas, Rakim, and The Notorious B.I.G. while working on Animal Ambition. Business ventures Jackson has had a highly successful business career. He is financially invested in a highly diversified variety of industries. Jackson is now involved in artist and talent management, record, television and film production, footwear, apparel, fragrances, liquor, video games, mobile apps, book publishing, headphones and health drinks, and dietary supplements. His broad business and investment portfolio contains investments in a variety of sectors including real estate, financial market investments, mining, boxing promotion, vodka, fragrances, consumer electronics, and fashion. He established his own record label G-Unit Records in 2003 following his mainstream success. In November 2003, he signed a five-year deal with Reebok to distribute a G-Unit Sneakers line for his G-Unit Clothing Company. Starting in an interview regarding his vast business empire, Jackson says his businesses have a habit of doing well as he sees all of his ventures both past and present as revolving around his alter ego. Jackson has started a book publishing imprint, G-Unit Books on 4 January 2007 at the Time Warner Building in New York. He has written a number of books including a memoir, From Pieces to Weight, in 2005 where it sold 73,000 copies in hardcore and 14,000 copies in paperback; a crime novel and a book with Robert Greene titled The 50th Law, an urban take on The 48 Laws of Power. In November 2011, Jackson released Playground, a young adult fiction novel about a bullied, violent kid and his gay mum. One of Jackson's finest business ventures was a partnership with Glacéau to create an enhanced water drink called Formula 50. In October 2004, Jackson became a beverage investor when he was given a minority share in the company in exchange for becoming a spokesperson after learning that he was a fan of the beverage. The health-conscious Jackson noted that he first learned of the product while at a gym in Los Angeles, and stated that "they do such a good job making water taste good." After becoming a minority shareholder and celebrity spokesperson, Jackson worked with the company to create a new grape-flavored "Formula 50" variant of VitaminWater and mentioned the drinks in various songs and interviews. In 2007, Coca-Cola purchased Glacéau for $4.1 billion and, according to Forbes, Jackson, who was a minority shareholder, earned $100 million from the deal after taxes. Though he no longer has an equity stake in the company, Jackson continues to act as a spokesperson for VitaminWater, enthusiastically supporting the product including singing about it at the BET Awards and expressing his excitement over the company's continuing to allow his input on products. He joined Right Guard to introduce a body spray, called Pure 50 RGX, and endorsed Magic Stick Condoms, planning to donate part of their proceeds to increasing HIV awareness. Jackson signed a multi-year deal with Steiner Sports to sell his memorabilia and announced plans for a dietary-supplement company in conjunction with his film Spectacular Regret in August 2007. Jackson has founded two film production companies: G-Unit Films in 2003 and Cheetah Vision in 2008. Cheetah Vision produces low budget action thrillers for foreign film markets across the world. When G-Unit Films folded, he focused on Cheetah Vision and the company obtained $200 million in funding in 2010. In 2010, Jackson revived G-Unit Films, renaming the company to G-Unit Films and Television Inc. The company has joint ventures with Will Packer's production company Will Packer Productions and Universal Television. In an eighteen month span, Jackson sold projects to six different networks. Among them was Power, a STARZ drama in which he not only co-stars but also serves as co-creator and executive producer. Power debuted in June 2014 and was renewed for a second season after only one episode aired. The show's August 2 season finale garnered the high ratings through the season, more than doubling the premiere and it generated 71% of the African-American viewership of any scripted premium series since 2006. Ratings have been a success for STARZ, with the second season premiere being the highest-ever season with 1.43 million people watching live. Jackson also serves as an executive television producer for Dream School for SundanceTV, a series that follows fifteen high school dropouts as they are taught by a series of celebrity "teachers". In July 2011, Jackson launched a philanthropic initiative to provide food for one billion starving people in Africa by 2016, joining Pure Growth Partners to introduce Street King. A portion of the proceeds from each Street King purchase would be used to provide a daily meal to an underprivileged child. The partnership coincides with Jackson's goal to feed a billion people in Africa during the next five years. "50 Cent and I share a common vision: to address the world's problems through smart and sustainable business models," said Chris Clarke, founder, and CEO of Pure Growth Partners. "With the rampant starvation in Africa and hunger afflicting children worldwide, we need socially responsible businesses that affect real change now more than ever." Jackson said, "I'm inspired by Clarke's vision and innovative approaches to tackling serious issues. It's our mission with Street King to really change children's lives around the world." In 2011, he founded SMS Audio, a consumer-electronics company selling Street by 50 headphones, pledging to donate a portion of their sales to charity. In April 2015, SMS announced new co-branding deals with Reebok and Marvel. It added those to existing partnerships with Walt Disney Parks, Lucasfilm’s Star Wars, and Intel. In 2014, Jackson became a minority shareholder in Effen Vodka, a brand of vodka produced in the Netherlands when he invested an undisclosed amount in the company Sire Spirits LLC. He currently endorses the product via his live concert performances and social media. The rapper was asked to take part in two promotional bottle signings, one in Oak Creek and another in Sun Prairie. Jackson made an appearance at Liquor Warehouse in Syracuse, New York on April 25, 2015, where he reportedly sold 1,400 bottles (277 gallons) of Jackson's signature liquor brand. Liquor Warehouse's owner George Angeloro reportedly stocked 300 cases (1,800 bottles or 357 gallons) of Effen Vodka, which sells for $30 a bottle, prior to the event. In December 2014, Jackson signed a $78 million deal with FRIGO Revolution Wear, a luxury underwear brand. The joint venture is partnered between Jackson, basketball player Carmelo Anthony, baseball legend Derek Jeter and Mathias Ingvarsson, the former president of mattress powerhouse Tempur-Pedic. Jackson became the chief fashion designer for the brands' single pair of Frigo boxers. In April 2015, Jackson mulled investing in Jamaica, exploring foreign investment opportunities on the island when he met with some local officials and had ongoing discussions on investment opportunities in the Montego Bay resort area. Investments Over the years, Jackson invested the millions of dollars in earnings he made from music and celebrity endorsements in an array of privately controlled companies, real estate, and stocks and bonds. A portion of his investments lost value during the 2008 recession. In December 2008 he told the Canadian press that he had been affected by the recession, losing several million dollars in the stock market. Unable to sell his Connecticut mansion, Jackson postponed Before I Self Destruct due to the severity of the economic downturn. His Farmington mansion located on 50 Poplar Hill Drive that he tried to sell for years filed for bankruptcy in Connecticut in 2015 listed an asking price for that property in 2012 at $10 million but was valued at $8.3 million in 2015. He first tried to sell the house in 2007 for $18.5 million and dropped the price several times in the next five years, when it was on and off the market. In January 2011, Jackson reportedly made $10 million after using Twitter to promote a marketing company which he was a part shareholder of. His endorsements company G Unit Brands Inc. revealed through a public SEC filing controls 12.9 percent of H&H Imports, which is a parent company of TV Goods – the firm responsible for marketing his range of headphones, Sleek by 50 Cent. Jackson bought the stock in the company on November 30, 2010, a week after it offered buyers 180 million shares at 17 cents each. Jackson later made a stock recommendation on Twitter, causing its share value to rise from four cents to nearly 50 cents (32p) each, closing on Monday at 39 cents (25p). Jackson was later investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission for breaching securities laws following his tweet which may have constituted allegations of Insider trading via his Pump and dump stock investment strategy. In 2013, Jackson became a minority investor in Hang w/, a live video broadcasting mobile app used by dozens of celebrities to broadcast their daily activities and chat with fans. The app downloaded more than 1 million times since its launch in March 2013 and has more than 1 million users as of February 2015. Other minority celebrity investors include former NFL player Terrell Owens and record producer, Timbaland. Mining and heavy metals Jackson has been involved in the mining and precious metals industries. In 2008, he visited a platinum, palladium, and iridium mine shaft in South Africa, and met with South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe in talks of purchasing an equity stake in the mine. After his meeting with Motsepe, Jackson considered purchasing equity in the mine and launching his own line of 50 Cent-branded platinum. Boxing promotion On July 21, 2012, Jackson became a licensed boxing promoter when he formed his new company, TMT (The Money Team). Licensed to promote in New York, he was in the process of being licensed in Nevada (where most major fights are held in the U.S.). A former amateur boxer, Jackson signed gold medalist and former featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa and middleweight Olympic medalist Andre Dirrell. On July 29, 2012, he and the famed boxer Floyd Mayweather, Jr., signed IBF featherweight champion Billy Dib. They unveiled plans to challenge the box-office dominance of mixed martial arts and change the landscape of boxing with TMT Promotions. Boxer Zab Judah also expressed interest in making a deal with Jackson.149 In December 2012, Mayweather and Jackson parted company, with Jackson taking over the promotion company and founding SMS Promotions with Gamboa, Dirrell, Dib, James Kirkland, Luis Olivares and Donte Strayhorn in his stable. Wealth Jackson was the second wealthiest rapper in the hip hop industry, behind Jay-Z in 2007. Jackson, who lives in a Farmington, Connecticut mansion formerly owned by ex-boxer Mike Tyson, has been consistently ranked highly among the wealthiest figures of the American hip hop scene. He was the fifth-richest figure in American hip hop in 2015, with an estimated net worth of $155 million. Earnings Jackson received $100,000 for his work in the movie Southpaw and $50,000 for acting in Spy. He also appears on the STARZ television show Power where receives $20,000 per episode for his appearance and $15,000 bonus for serving as the show's executive producer. Bankruptcy On July 13, 2015, Jackson filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Connecticut with a debt of $32,509,549.91. On July 17, 2015, the Court issued an order allowing a creditor to proceed with the punitive damages phase of a trial against Jackson in a New York state court, in connection with the alleged release of a private video. His assets were listed as between $10 million and $50 million in his bankruptcy petition, though he testified under oath that he is worth $4.4 million. Citing between $10 million and $50 million in debt, and the same amount in assets. Later in the week, Jackson's bankruptcy lawyers elucidated the court documents that legal fees and judgments exceeding $20 million over the past year were the primary cause of the filing. His filings listed 32 entities that he has a stake in. The bankruptcy came days after a jury ordered him to pay $5 million to rapper Rick Ross’s ex-girlfriend Lastonia Leviston for invading her privacy by posting online a sex tape of her and another man. In addition, Jackson lost a dispute over a failed business deal to come to fruition to his Sleek headphones, where Jackson invested more than $2 million. An ex-partner accused Jackson of later stealing the design of the "Sleek by 50" headphones, prompting a judge to award the partner more than $17.2 million. His Connecticut bankruptcy filing states that he owns seven cars valued at more than $500,000, including a 2010 Rolls Royce and a 1966 Chevrolet Coupe. His expenses of $108,000 a month include $5,000 for gardening along with a monthly income of $185,000, mainly from royalties and income from his external businesses and investments. The court filing says he also owes money to his stylist, his barber, and his fitness coach. Other details in the bankruptcy documents included information about two deals that sold the right to collect royalties of on-air play of his music. Half the rights to his portfolio were sold to the British independent music publishing company Kobalt Music Group for $3 million and the other half for another $3 million with the sales of his albums allowing Jackson to own 100 percent of the rights to the master recordings while paying only for distribution. Zeisler & Zeisler, a Bridgeport law firm, represented 50 Cent in the bankruptcy, which later resulted in Jackson filing a $75 million lawsuit against his own lawyers. He stated that his lawyers did a terrible job of representing him, specifically citing the fallout of his failed venture with Sleek Audio headphones and accused Garvey Schubert Barer, a Wall Street law firm of failing to "employ the requisite knowledge and skill necessary to confront the circumstances of the case." Personal life On 13 October 1996, Jackson's girlfriend, Shaniqua Tompkins, gave birth to son Marquise Jackson. Tompkins later sued Jackson for $50 million, saying that he said that he would take care of her for life. The suit, with 15 causes of action, was dismissed by a judge who called it "an unfortunate tale of a love relationship gone sour." The two have bickered for years, and have even taken their feud to social media many times. Marquise's birth changed Jackson's outlook on life: "When my son came into my life, my priorities changed because I wanted to have the relationship with him I didn't have with my father". He credited his son for inspiring his career and being the "motivation to go in a different direction". Jackson has a tattooed "Marquise" with an axe on his right bicep ("The axe is 'cause I'm a warrior. I don't want him to be one though"), and has "50", "Southside" and "Cold World" on his back: "I'm a product of that environment. It's on my back, though, so it's all behind me". Jackson dated model Daphne Joy and had his second son, Sire Jackson, with her on 1 September 2012. At the age of two years, Sire modeled for Kidz Safe, a headphone brand for kids, earning $700,000 through his contract. In 2005, Jackson supported president George W. Bush after rapper Kanye West criticized Bush for a slow response to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. If his felony convictions did not prevent him from voting, he said, he would have voted for the president. Jackson later said that Bush "has less compassion than the average human. By all means, I don't aspire to be like George Bush." In September 2007, he told Time that although he would not endorse a candidate in 2008, he "liked Hillary Clinton". Six months later, Jackson told MTV News that he had switched his support to Barack Obama after hearing him speak, but had lost interest in politics. Asked his opinion of President Obama's 9 May 2012 endorsement of gay marriage, Jackson said, "I'm for it ... I've encouraged same-sex activities. I've engaged in fetish areas a couple times." He had been criticized for anti-gay comments in the past. Jackson lives in a Farmington, Connecticut mansion formerly owned by ex-boxer Mike Tyson. The house has been for sale since 200 and has had its price drop from $18.5 million to $5 million over the ten-year span. Jackson desired to move closer to his son, who lived in Long Island with his ex-girlfriend when the house was first put up for sale. The mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut declared 12 October 2007 "50 Cent Curtis Jackson Day", honoring the rapper with a proclamation and a key to the city. One of Jackson's New York homes, purchased in January 2007 for $2.4 million and the center of a lawsuit between Jackson and Shaniqua Tompkins, caught fire on 31 May 2008 while Jackson was filming in Louisiana. Discography Studio albums *2003: Get Rich or Die Tryin' *2005: The Massacre *2007: Curtis *2009: Before I Self Destruct *2014: Animal Ambition Category:1975 births Category:American rappers Category:African-American rappers Category:G-Unit members Category:G-Unit Records rappers Category:Rappers from Queens, New York Category:Rappers from New York City Category:East Coast hip hop musicians Category:Shady Records artists Category:Actors Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Aftermath Entertainment artists